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R.J. Blute was born in Yonkers, New York in 1953. He's worked as a carpet salesman, construction worker, and as a job coach for the disabled.
It took him five years to write his first novel, Armando's Daughter.
R.J. has also written a three act play and is currently working on several other novels, amongst them a fictional novel about the famous General George Patton and a young boy named Jamey Flint.
Blute lives in Southern Arizona with his wife and a crowd of canine and feline friends. He's an avid reader of all kinds of books and loves to spend his free time writing, reading and relaxing.
Reviewed by Stephanie Dagg for Readers' Favorite
Armando’s Daughter by R J Blute is a fast, entertaining read. It has a cast of colorful larger-than-life characters: Armando’s daughter herself, the sixteen-year-old Cassandra; Armando, small-time gangster divorced from Nicole, Cassandra’s mum; and Armando's tough Italian mother, Nonna. The action begins with Cassandra deciding to ask her father to kill her mother’s new boyfriend. But things start to spiral in all sorts of directions. Corrupt politicians are planning to close down the city’s pools, just as the hot weather hits. You’re left breathless as the events of the book sweep you along. There’s violence, gritty language, sexual encounters and a good few deaths, but not necessarily the ones you’re expecting.
I enjoyed this book. It’s well structured with succinct chapters that sweep you along. Each one is aptly titled. For example, Chapter Seven is "La Stronza" (The Witch) and is where we meet Nonna properly for the first time. The physical layout of the text wasn’t good in the Word version of the book I had. My only other niggle is the translating of the phrases in Italian that are used. For example, Nonna says “But, it’s a to our il vantaggio. (advantage).” To be less intrusive, I think the author should either leave readers to guess what the Italian means or make less use of it. However, it doesn’t spoil the entertainment value of this original and ingeniously plotted story.
